Congratulations to Terry Robbins who was the first person to
correctly guess that the September Historic Place of the Month was:

The Benson
Residence

The Benson Residence,
located in the Calabasas Highlands is one of Calabasas’
architectural gems. Designed by Frank Gehry, architect of the Walt
Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, it is the only example
of his work or the Deconstructivism style in Calabasas. Gehry is a
Canadian-born architect who moved to Los Angeles in 1947 and gained
recognition in the late 1970’s for experimenting with common and
inexpensive industrial materials, such as corrugated metal and chain
link fencing. His first major commission in Southern California was
the campus of Loyola Law School, which is located east of downtown
Los Angeles. It was through this commission that Gehry met Robert
Benson, a law professor at the school. The Benson Residence was
designed for less than eighty dollars per square foot. For a 1,500
square-foot home the budget was $120,000.

The Benson Residence
consists of two separate buildings separated by a “moat”. Gehry also
experimented with the use of asphalt roof shingles for the House.
It was only later that he noticed that the scalloped pattern
appeared to be fish scales. Since the construction of the Benson
Residence and his own home, fish shapes have been a reoccurring
theme in Gehry’s work.